Another Bump In The Road
by perpetualpathology
Summary: After taking maternity leave to resolve things once and for all with Jonny and Emma, Jac returns to work with a bit of a surprise for her colleagues...


**I've literally just written this in half an hour after getting the idea on the train so apologies if it is awful! Just thought I'd publish something as I haven't done so for almost a fortnight…**

* * *

Eight months she had been away from the hospital for. Eight short months that had soon flown by as she and Jonny had finally had time to talk things through and sort things out without the distractions from work which, as a consultant and very important member of team Darwin, were only a phone call away for Jac. She regularly exchanged emails with Elliot to keep up to date and occasionally video chatted with the old professor whenever Emma had learnt to do something new – the most recent being her attempts at crawling – but Jac couldn't stay away from surgery forever.

Her salary could easily support the family of three so they had agreed that Jonny would become a stay-at-home dad and Jac was to return to work. But whilst life was about to get back to normal, there was another _bump_ in the road…

* * *

Elliot was sat in his office behind the desk, awaiting the return of his much loved colleague. He'd stayed an extra hour and a half the previous night just to clean the office because in her absence, piles of his paperwork had accumulated and overflowed onto her desk. As had several coffee cups which had since turned green so he thought he'd make an effort for her return. On her desk was a welcome back card as well as her theatre list for the day which he'd kept as light as he could without being obvious just to ease her back in.

"Ah, nice and early. Just as I thought you'd be…" Elliot trailed off as he greeted the woman who entered the office in dark blue scrubs with her perfectly straightened hair flowing over her shoulders but he couldn't help but notice a somewhat familiar change to her figure.

"Trust me, with Maconie at home I'm not taking nearly as much time off as I did with Emma." Jac explained bluntly.

"Does Hansen know?"

"Well I've got to give him a letter informing him that I want to take 2 weeks leave in 4 months' time so he'll find out soon enough."

"I-I don't understand, why didn't you tell me? All the video chats we've had, you've never mentioned that you're pregnant!"

"It was early days. After last time, we wanted to make sure everything was as it should be."

"So everything's okay?" He asked cautiously.

"I had my anomaly scan last week; no sign of CDH and Jonny was ecstatic to hear he's fathered a son."

"A boy? Oh goodness, congratulations." Elliot smiled. "I must admit, it's come as a surprise. I would've thought after all you went through with Emma during her first month or so, it would be difficult to put yourself through that again."

"Well, this one's healthy so hopefully there shouldn't be any problems." Jac replied. "Right." She smiled as she looked at her theatre list before she put it down and secured her stethoscope around her neck. "I'll do the first ward round. See you in theatre in an hour."

"Yes, bye." Elliot forced a smile as the doctor left the office but he then let his mouth fall open in astonishment. _Well I never, Jac Naylor pregnant again!_ He thought.

* * *

"Valentine, we wear scrubs for a reason. Go and get changed and don't let me see you in jeans again or I'll keep you out of theatre for the rest of the month." Jac ordered from the nurses' station as she observed that he was wearing dark blue jeans instead of scrub bottoms.

"Well you haven't changed one bit." Ollie concluded before he turned on his heel and headed for the locker room. He was familiar with her so he wasn't scared of her threats but he knew very well that when she said something, she meant it and he didn't want to risk losing his theatre time for the next three weeks. Jac squinted her eyes as she watched him bump into Zosia March and they awkwardly exchanged apologies before they headed their separate ways.

"You've spotted it as well have you? The romance between Oliver and Zosia." Elliot smiled as he approached his colleague.

"Can't say I was paying attention." Jac replied innocently as she picked up her patient's file and began flicking through.

"Listen, Mo said she was going to pop in today just to grab some paperwork but I've got to go to theatre now so when she gets here, could you direct her to the office please? There's a red folder and pile of notes beside it for her."

"Sure." Jac nodded. She sat down at one of the chairs and logged on to a computer so that she could view the history of one of her patients but she rolled her eyes when someone cleared their throat on the other side of the counter to catch her attention.

"Can I help you Ms Effanga?"

"I've just come to collect some work while I'm staying at home with Adele. Is Elliot about?"

"He's gone to theatre but I know where it is." Jac sighed before she stood up and began to walk towards the consultants' office with the transplant registrar following right behind her.

"Man and woman, a son and daughter. It's going to be like the ideal family." Mo teased.

"Who told you?" Jac demanded. She was sure Jonny wouldn't have told her because she'd sworn him to secrecy up until her scan and even then Jonny hadn't wanted to tell his best friend until they next met up.

"Let's just say there's a rumour going around on twitter." Mo replied. "There's even a couple of pictures." She smirked.

"Just take the work and go." Jac moaned after unlocking the office door.

"Alright, I'm going. But it's good to have you back. And I'm really glad you've sorted things out with Jonny." Mo said resolutely.

* * *

"Look who's home Emmy!" Jonny exclaimed as he greeted his partner by the front door with their eight month old in a baby carrier on his chest, facing outwards towards her mother. "How's my baby?" He grinned as Jac took one of Emma's waving hands to calm the excited infant down.

"He's wriggling away in there."

"I was talking to you but good to know." He smirked. "So, how was your first day back?"

"Like I never left." Jac replied with a content smile. She'd enjoyed her time off but you could never take surgery away from her; it was what made her happy.

"How did Elliot take the news?"

"He was shocked, to say the least." She smiled.

"And Hansen?"

"Well you can never know what he's feeling but I'm pretty sure he was relieved when I told him I'm only taking a fortnight off this time."

"That's because that hospital is lucky to have you." Jonny stated. "Now, this is how this evening is going to go. We're going to have dinner and then I'm going to run you a nice warm bath for you to relax in while I take Emma down to the park before it gets dark."

"I don't get why you take her to the park – the only thing she can play with is the swing and even then you have to bulk her up in the baby ones with a rolled up blanket because she's too small for the seat."

"Hey, she loves the see-saw if she sits on my lap and we bounce up and down." He protested.

"You could easily do that with her on your knee sitting on the sofa." She reminded him.

"Fair point. Right come on, we're going to be normal so you've got to sit at the table and tell me how your day was over dinner."

"We both know we don't do normal."

"No we don't because normal is boring." He stated. "Besides, there's nothing wrong with having two children under the age of two raised by an unemployed scot and a workaholic mother is there?" He quipped.

"Can I smell something burning?" Jac frowned.

"My pie!"

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 **Please review and let me know what you think (honestly!) :)**


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